Evidence suggests that U.S. Millennials and (older) Gen Z did experience unusually large gains in economic power around 2022, but it is hard to say they were clearly the single biggest “winners,” and some of the specific mechanisms Jason cited (notably trading success) ran the other way.

On the positive side, multiple analyses of Federal Reserve data show that by 2022 younger cohorts’ wealth had surged relative to expectations. A St. Louis Fed study finds that older Millennials’ median wealth in 2022 was 37% above what a life‑cycle model would predict, and younger Millennials/older Gen Z swung from 44% below expectations in 2019 to 39% above in 2022, with their median wealth more than quadrupling to $41,000. (stlouisfed.org) A Center for American Progress analysis concludes that households under 35 saw median wealth rise from $16,000 to $39,000 between 2019 and 2022 (about +140%), and describes younger Americans as the main “winners” of the post‑pandemic recovery, with especially low unemployment and strong wage growth. (americanprogress.org) Cerulli Associates likewise reports that Millennials’ and Gen Z’s financial assets grew the most of any generation from 2019 to 2022, with sharp increases in stock and retirement‑account ownership, indicating rising financial clout. (cerulli.com) Entrepreneurship and job mobility also moved in the predicted direction: CAP notes that the business‑ownership rate for households under 35 hit an all‑time high of 11.3% in 2022—almost double 2019’s rate—while youth unemployment fell from 9.7% in 2021 to about 8.1% in 2022, both supporting greater independence and opportunity for younger workers. (americanprogress.org)

However, 2022 was a terrible year for exactly the kind of risk‑on investing many younger Americans favored. The Nasdaq Composite fell about 33% and the S&P 500 about 19% in 2022, and young investors—especially in crypto—were hit disproportionately hard; surveys show Millennials’ comfort with crypto investing plunged, and reporting notes that Gen Z “fell the hardest” when the crypto market crashed. (en.wikipedia.org) At the same time, structural generational gaps remained huge: by 2023, Millennials and Gen Z together still held just over 9% of total U.S. wealth, while Baby Boomers controlled about 52%, and the wealth gap between older and younger families was larger in 2022 than in 2001. (planning.org)

Because the claim that Millennials and Gen Z were the biggest overall economic winners in 2022 depends on subjective weighting (percentage vs dollar gains, trading losses vs housing and wage gains, and “power” vs absolute wealth), and because some key sub‑claims (investing/trading success) are contradicted by the data, the prediction cannot be cleanly scored as simply right or wrong. Hence, it is best judged as ambiguous.